Chennai: Job opportunities provided by the state judiciary are no longer attractive and Madras high court, which controls the functioning of state judicial system in Tamil Nadu, faces problems when it comes to retaining its administrative and clerical staff.
Every year close to 100 posts become vacant across different courts. Retirement is one general reason but the new trend is that most youngsters who join as judicial clerk, typists, steno and office assistants leave the services within a couple of years after getting a proper job.
“Job opportunities provided by the state judiciary are no longer attractive and there are hundreds of examples within the last ten years, where the judiciary has failed to retain its human resource”, said a source at Madras high court.
Every year notifications are put up and recruitment is done through Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission but retaining them is difficult as youngsters opt out for better government posts.
Even for the post of sweepers, now directly recruited, there were over qualified applicants with master degrees. In case of typists and court assistants it is even worse. Most of the time overqualified candidates get selected and leave the service within months, the official said.
“Getting an order copy from small causes court or the labour court in Chennai is not an easy task and every time, the official answer given to lawyers is that there are no judicial staff and this is no exaggeration,” said a senior lawyer at Madras Bar Association.
First the state has to allocate more funds to recruit more staff and then there is a need for more technical staff with knowledge about computers and printers. Then those who join the judicial services should be asked to pay compensation if they leave the job in the middle, he said.
